Americans’ outlook on the quality of health care in the U.S. is at a 24-year low, according to a new survey.
The Gallup poll, released Friday, shows 33 percent of U.S. adults said the quality of American health care is excellent and 11 percent said it is good. That 44 percent represents a 10-percent drop from 2020, when a previous survey showed the rating around 54 percent.
Another 38 percent of respondents said health care quality was “fair,” while 16 percent gave it a “poor” rating.
Health care coverage received an even worse rating than the quality of care, per the survey. Only 28 percent of U.S. adults said coverage was “excellent” or “good,” according to the survey. It is a 12-point decrease from a 2012 poll, when Americans’ view of the quality of coverage was at its peak, garnering 41 percent support.
Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have held a negative view of health care in the U.S. since President-elect Trump departed the Oval Office in 2021. The figure, however, has been relatively consistent among Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents in the same time period, according to the pollster.
Approximately 42 percent of Republicans see health-care quality as excellent or good, representing a more than 25-point downturn compared to 2020, when it was at 68 percent. Democrats were seemingly more optimistic about health care in 2024, with 50 percent rating it positively, the poll found.
Both sides of the aisle are dissatisfied with health care coverage, the survey shows, with just 30 percent of Democrats and 25 percent of Republicans giving a positive rating.
Less than one-in-five Americans — 19 percent — said they were satisfied with the cost of health care. That figure was relatively unchanged from 2023. The rating reached its peak of 30 percent in 2020, Gallup noted.
Respondents also labeled high costs as the most urgent health problem facing the nation, with 23 percent saying as much. Access to health care and addressing obesity followed behind, with 14 percent and 13 percent respectively identifying the issues as important, per the poll.
The Gallup survey was conducted from Nov. 6-20 among 1,001 adults and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
